Brielle Madison Vessels

Throughout my pregnancy I was pretty sure that Brielle would not wait until 40 weeks to be born. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if I would make it to full term (37 weeks). When I hit that milestone I was so excited and just knew that any day would be the day!! 37 weeks came and went... then 38 weeks.... then 39 weeks... then I was at my due date. I could not believe that I was still pregnant! Miserable, huge, and waddling I was desperate. Sadly, I was only 1 cm dilated and 0% effeced so my midwife refused to induce me before 41 weeks.

At 40 weeks and 6 days I went in to have a foley bulb placed. Basically, this helps my cervix dilate so that I will have a better chance at having a successful induction. When it was placed I was about 1.5 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. Progress!! But still not anywhere near where I shoud be. So that was put in and fell out at about 9 pm that night which I thought meant I was dilated to at least a 4, so I was pretty stoked.

The next morning we went to the hospital for my induction. We arrived at about 5:15 am and my Pitocin got started at 5:50 am. Labor started slow, like normal. Then I started feeling it. All. In. My. Back. I felt NOTHING in my belly. It hurt so bad. Apparently Brielle was facing my belly instead of my back which is wrong and causes back labor. At 9 am I finally got a spinal block. I learned from my labor with Brenden to not let the pain get out of control. The spinal block was HORRIBLE. Yes, it relieved all of the pain but I felt like I was covered in mosquito bites. My entire body itched. I would have preferred the pain at that point. After that was going and I was feeling better I finally met Dr. Meldrum and he checked my cervix to see where I was. I was 3.5 cm (he stretched me to a 4 though) and about 75%. He was originally going to break my water to help things along but said that Brielle was still so high up (a -3 station) that he was scared of cord prolapse. This is where the umbilical cord comes through the cervix and during a contraction the blood supply could be cut off by the squeezing and seriously harm or kill the baby. We didn't want that. My goal when I went in was to have a baby around lunch time. He said that it didn't look like I'd be getting my lunchtime baby. I braced myself for another looonnng labor. I started feeling the contractions again as the spinal block wore off so they started my epidural. Let me tell you, I love those things. For 1) goodbye pain!, and 2) apparently I don't dilate without them.

Around noon I was laying in a weird position trying to get Brielle to turn her stubborn self the right way when I heard a pop and felt a gush. I called the nurse in and she rushed to check me to make sure that Brielle's cord hadn't come through when my water broke. It hadn't. She was checking me and said, "I don't feel your cervix..." As it turns out, I was fully dilated! From 4 cm to 10cm in 3 hours.... pretty impressive! The doctor was called and everything was prepared for Brielle's arrival as I labored down. At about 12:30 the nurse asked me to do a practice push. I did and she started yelling at me to stop pushing because Brielle's head was coming out! So after half a push, I stopped!! William's face was priceless, by the way! From then on out every time I had a contraction she would come check and make sure Brielle was still inside of me.

Finally the time had come for me to push her out. The nurses were taking bets as to how long it would take me to get her out. The first one said 3 pushes. Another one said that she would be born by 1:15 (20 minutes from the time she said that). They were both wrong. With one big, long push Brielle was born at 1:00 pm on the dot. No tears. She was a perfect 8 lbs 8 oz and 20 1/2 inches long with a head full of dark brown hair.

After Brenden's 23 hour long labor I was not expecting a speedy 7 hour one. Her birth is one that I would do again any day. It was just the beginning of her perfection. She rarely cries. Only really at night when she is getting tired. She smiles and coos more than ANY baby I've ever see at this age. Oh, and she's gorgeous. I could not have dreamed up a better baby. Lucky does not begin to describe it. My family is truly blessed by our two wonderful children <3

Dr. Meldrum, Brielle, and me (11.15.11)